Michelle , whole home generators are on major back order We have a portable generator but need to replace our portable A/C unit. We use it in the garage as needed during non-event times but can bring it in and vent it if necessary. That and keeping an extra propane tank on hand for the grill are most helpful for normal Hurricane aftermath issues. We've been very lucky to not lose power during any major event since we moved into this house. We had power all through Harvey & the winter storm.
Our main planning revolves around food/water/cooling while everything is repaired. We are far enough inland that our best course of action is to shelter in place during a storm then evacuate a few days later if absolutely necessary. We are fine without power for a few days and this keeps us off the roads for the people that must evacuate prior to the storm.
Yep - blame all my neighbors.
We got a portable generator that can support the fridge and extension cords for fans in one room.
We are ill prepared for extreme heat for long periods of time, unfortunately. But I can sleep outside in cooler outdoor air if there is no power for a little bit, with a jackery for my cpap. I would just cover with a mosquito net. But also during that kind of extreme weather I would probably have to work the ride out team at the hospital, and I'd go to the one that generates its own electricity from an on-site plant. I have an air mattress and/or cot for that scenario. I've already slept a few nights on a hard hospital floor and i'm not doing that again if i can help it!
We definitely plan around sheltering in place unless it is a Cat3 or higher. We are fortunate that our area didn't even feel threatened from flooding even during Harvey (knock on wood). If a Cat3 is coming my household would stay with friends on the far northwest side of town.
We live in Seattle so we generally don't need air conditioning. But when the smoke hits and we can't open the windows it gets unbearable upstairs (last year it was 88 in the bedrooms). I want to find some sort of cooling fan or portable AC unit. Problem is we have crank out windows and I don't know how the exhaust will work with that, and since we only need it a few weeks of the year (hopefully) I don't want to do anything permanent.
You should look into a ductless heat pump. They can really help cool things down. We're getting a new heat pump (installed today - yay!) that will have better filtration and a UV air purifier installed so it helps with the smoke particles and such. FWIW, we're using Washington Energy Services and are super happy with their service so far.
Michelle , whole home generators are on major back order We have a portable generator but need to replace our portable A/C unit. We use it in the garage as needed during non-event times but can bring it in and vent it if necessary. That and keeping an extra propane tank on hand for the grill are most helpful for normal Hurricane aftermath issues. We've been very lucky to not lose power during any major event since we moved into this house. We had power all through Harvey & the winter storm.
Our main planning revolves around food/water/cooling while everything is repaired. We are far enough inland that our best course of action is to shelter in place during a storm then evacuate a few days later if absolutely necessary. We are fine without power for a few days and this keeps us off the roads for the people that must evacuate prior to the storm.
Yep - blame all my neighbors.
We got a portable generator that can support the fridge and extension cords for fans in one room.
We are ill prepared for extreme heat for long periods of time, unfortunately. But I can sleep outside in cooler outdoor air if there is no power for a little bit, with a jackery for my cpap. I would just cover with a mosquito net. But also during that kind of extreme weather I would probably have to work the ride out team at the hospital, and I'd go to the one that generates its own electricity from an on-site plant. I have an air mattress and/or cot for that scenario. I've already slept a few nights on a hard hospital floor and i'm not doing that again if i can help it!
We definitely plan around sheltering in place unless it is a Cat3 or higher. We are fortunate that our area didn't even feel threatened from flooding even during Harvey (knock on wood). If a Cat3 is coming my household would stay with friends on the far northwest side of town.
My DH worked at a data center during Ike so was there the entire week we didn't have power. 65 degrees, he was freezing. Everyone had to drive up to my house for showers, though, since Houston didn't have water. We had to hang the towels outside to dry. So part of our weather event prep is now making sure all linens are clean since Houston seems to have water issues during most events. We are CoH water but on a separate system so aren't affected.
Any favorite lanterns/light sources for power outages?
I replaced all of ours last year but could use a few more. Also, any tips for storage if you live in a humid climate? I think I might start keeping them in a few strategic places with batteries during hurricane season then removing the batteries and putting in a baggie tied to the lantern at the end of the season. I can't just leave them in or they may be corroded when we go to use them.
Any favorite lanterns/light sources for power outages?
All our tools are Ryobi so we have multiple of these types and may be worth looking into whatever toolsets you may have. They are cheaper in bundle packages or refurbs on eBay but since I keep all of the batteries charged (8+) they work well for what we need:
One of our urban search and rescue classes mentioned if you have decent quality outdoor solar lights they absolutely work in a pinch, especially for taking to the bathroom or other areas of an otherwise dark house. We have multiple types but the puck-style ones worked great when we were 24+ hours without power due to a car vs. pole accident the day after Thanksgiving 2019.
Your emergency kit probably should have a crank/solar flashlight as well.
I just bought a tiny portable battery-powered generator (that I can charge with a solar panel) so we can charge/run a small amount of things in case of an outage. I live in suburban Philly, so weather isn't that extreme, but we had a pretty severe noreaster in March 2018 that left us without power for 24 hours and a bunch of other people in my area without power for a week.
My DH worked at a data center during Ike so was there the entire week we didn't have power. 65 degrees, he was freezing. Everyone had to drive up to my house for showers, though, since Houston didn't have water. We had to hang the towels outside to dry. So part of our weather event prep is now making sure all linens are clean since Houston seems to have water issues during most events. We are CoH water but on a separate system so aren't affected.
hahaha - i remember sleeping with the windows open so the breeze could come in, sending up prayers of thanks that a cool front swept in for the 2 weeks we didn't have power (at least the first week). Clearly when compared with the other thread, I should move north, since I can sleep comfortably in temps of 45-70 degrees. (During february when we didn't have power for days, I just piled on blankets and drank hot tea and I was fine, even when it was below 40 degrees in our house). I had hot water bottles that I'd warm using the gas stove for other members of the house who weren't faring quite so well, and i'd use them to warm the end of my bed before I climbed in and then hand them over to someone else.
Any favorite lanterns/light sources for power outages?
I replaced all of ours last year but could use a few more. Also, any tips for storage if you live in a humid climate? I think I might start keeping them in a few strategic places with batteries during hurricane season then removing the batteries and putting in a baggie tied to the lantern at the end of the season. I can't just leave them in or they may be corroded when we go to use them.
I have a designated shelf in the laundry room (our emergency shelter in place room) that is where all flashlights, spotlights and lanterns are hosted, and it's also where all batteries are kept. Year round. And i do remove the batteries like you plan.
What do EV people in CA do? Do they areas with power you can drive to to charge? Do you keep your vehicle fully charged?
There are EV chargers everywhere here and I always keep my car charged to at least 100 miles, so that would at least get us to another county, where hopefully we’d find power. My H also has a hybrid so we wouldn’t be completely stuck. Of course, as we’ve seen before, gas shortages can be a major issue too in times of crisis.
To answer the OP’s question, I’ve been taking advantage of sales on K95 masks as fewer people are buying them for covid. We’re not in a high fire risk area so it’s the air quality I’m most concerned about. We’re well stocked with jugs of water, canned food, flashlights and batteries in case of an earthquake too.
I second solar lights. We had just bought our house when Michael hit and the previous owners had solar lights everywhere in the forest of trees. A few nights later, we saw lots of random lights scattered throughout the yard (they finally got sun!), so we collected them and purposely charged them. They weren’t much, but lasted from sun down to bed time.
Also, a Kindle with backlights. I read my kids to sleep each night because there was nothing else to do once dark hit.
We now own a generator and three times as much water as then. Plus, we repaired an old well and have box fans, extra allergy meds, butterfly bandages and bleed stop. All of those would have been nice then.
A few years ago I made pretty comprehensive emergency / earthquake kits for our family. To maintain them, I just sat down one day and made an inventory of what was in each kit and when it expired. I have a monthly calendar reminder on my Google calendar on the first of the month that just tells me what I need to replace in every kit. You could do that quarterly as well if you didn’t want to change out things monthly, but it’s been really easy to maintain. It’s useful for us since earthquakes are obviously not seasonal. Just a thought for an easy way to maintain your supplies once you’re set up (and it allows me to pull items out that I could use before they expire).
I have a complete list of items i put in my kits. Happy to share if that’s useful.
As a fellow earthquake country dweller I'd love to see your list. We recently moved back after years on the East Coast, so I felt pretty good about my tropical storm/power outage/tornado prep, but I haven't taken the time yet to get serious about earthquake preparation and I know we need to do it.
Any favorite lanterns/light sources for power outages?
I replaced all of ours last year but could use a few more. Also, any tips for storage if you live in a humid climate? I think I might start keeping them in a few strategic places with batteries during hurricane season then removing the batteries and putting in a baggie tied to the lantern at the end of the season. I can't just leave them in or they may be corroded when we go to use them.
We bought a Sun King a few years ago for camping that doubles as an emergency light if we lose power. It seems to hold its charge forever and provides good light and is configurable (can be hung out placed on a table on its stand).
I second solar lights. We had just bought our house when Michael hit and the previous owners had solar lights everywhere in the forest of trees. A few nights later, we saw lots of random lights scattered throughout the yard (they finally got sun!), so we collected them and purposely charged them. They weren’t much, but lasted from sun down to bed time.
Also, a Kindle with backlights. I read my kids to sleep each night because there was nothing else to do once dark hit.
We now own a generator and three times as much water as then. Plus, we repaired an old well and have box fans, extra allergy meds, butterfly bandages and bleed stop. All of those would have been nice then.
I'm a big fan of these solar lights. Plus the fact that they're inflatable is fun.
Add us to the list of families that recently had a Generac whole house generator installed.
@@ Now that DS is 8 we revamped our go bags recently so he has his own. Through the pandemic we realized the the truly thrives with routine. We homeschool, so I went ahead and bought an inexpensive Brainquest workbook (all subjects in one book) and tossed that into his bag. They are $5-8 on sale on Amazon, and each year I can just donate the grade level that sits in there and doesn't get used. I know that if we ever have to up and leave for some reason he would feel more grounded with the stability of pausing and doing school. LOL. @@
A few years ago we also invested in solar lights. Both flashlights and hanging solar bulbs. They have been helpful during overnight power outages. Our solar charging brick is handy as well.
We already eat a lot of grains and dried fruit, so last year we went ahead and added some emergency #10 canned food to our backup pantry. Things like banana chips and freeze dried strawberries are actually less expensive this way!
We don't drink bottled water, but I've been keeping a few cases at our current home, and the one we're renovating.
I will never live without one unopened Costco sized TP pack ever again.
I live in the upper Midwest in a highly wooded area and have power outages pretty frequently. I broke down and got a transfer switch and the largest portable generator I could to run the whole house several years ago. It is a PITA to set up and hopefully can upgrade to a whole house generator at some point but with a boiler, not letting the house get below freezing is a necessity. It was a god send when the power went out for 3 days during the polar vortex a few years ago. It isn't big enough to run the central AC in the summer so I have a portable AC unit I can move from room to room as needed. In the almost 50 years my parents have lived in the area there has never been an evacuation or flooding that has reached this neighborhood so I am less concerned on those fronts.
I love the press on and off puck lights for the times when I don't haul out the generator (usually if the estimate of the power company is 4 hours or less to get it back on) as well as these lanterns. They throw off an immense amount of light and last a long time. Puck lights: amzn.to/35Rw0P9 Lanterns: amzn.to/2U49HDa
I do have a small fireproof safe for important documents but I think I need to upgrade to one that is a bit larger at this point.
I also have the usual stash of food and non perishables that I rotate from regularly. This was a pre-pandemic set up that I just bulked up pre-lockdowns.
We are in British Columbia fire country. Up until last fall, we have always lived within a few hundred metres of wild land so frequently went on evacuation standby, with a few formal evacuations over the decade+ we were there. We've since moved into town and I commented to H the other day that we should have a go bag packed, but it would be so unlikely we'll have to evacuate here. J/K! Fire started in a field next to our neighbourhood today and H was running around trying to remember all the stuff we used to pack, but is now in different locations in this house. Thankfully the fire is now out, but it was dicey for about an hour.
For us, life goes on during an evacuation so we have to prep our work necessities. Once, we were out of the house on a Sunday, our neighbourhood went under evacuation order, and we never got home. H needs steel toe boots, hard hat, carhartt's, etc. for work. We spent a lot of money that evening buying him a second kit. Now he keeps spares in the trunk all summer.
We live in Seattle so we generally don't need air conditioning. But when the smoke hits and we can't open the windows it gets unbearable upstairs (last year it was 88 in the bedrooms). I want to find some sort of cooling fan or portable AC unit. Problem is we have crank out windows and I don't know how the exhaust will work with that, and since we only need it a few weeks of the year (hopefully) I don't want to do anything permanent.
This is a good reminder to go through the stuff I stashed at the start of the pandemic and see what needs to be rotated into use or pared down, now that a sudden long quarantine for all of us is less likely.
We got a small generator a couple of years ago during an extended power outage, and I swear it was mostly because of our fish. We have two big tanks and a small one, and they won't survive long without bubbles/filtration for oxygen and the right temp. Before we got the generator, there was one post-storm period where we used my van and a power inverter, and we were able to run the tanks intermittently to keep our fishies alive. After that, we got a generator big enough to run the tanks and our fridge and extension cords long enough to make sure we can run it safely/far enough from the house.
So yeah, IME a power inverter -- which you can plug into your car's cigarette lighter and run your vehicle to generate electricity, then hook it into extension cords to run the power into the house -- is also a handy thing to have. It doesn't have the capacity of a generator, but it's a lot cheaper (like you can get them for $100 or less) and if you can run your car, you can power one or two things intermittently that might be the difference between losing all the food in your fridge, or your fish, or whatever.